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Members of the Sidewalk Toronto team echoed the principles of Privacy by Design, the framework of Ryerson University’s expert in residence Ann Cavoukian.

The former Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario is an adviser to the project’s privacy policy development as it works through a lengthy public consultation phase for a project that is in many ways the first smart city development of its kind.

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Should Canada adopt its own version of the “right to be forgotten”? The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) recently concluded, in a Draft Position Paper, that such a right actually exists already.

According to the OPC, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) gives individuals legal power to make search engines like Google de-list search results about them, and to make individual websites take down information.

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The European Union’s new privacy protection rules are being described as a game-changing new standard that’s already being felt in Canada as companies with transatlantic operations get ready for the sweeping changes that come into effect later this month.

“The direct effects for Canadian consumers will arise predominantly in their dealings with multinational corporations, the companies that do business across borders,” said University of Ottawa law professor Teresa Scassa.

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Should Canada adopt its own version of the “right to be forgotten”? The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) recently concluded, in a Draft Position Paper, that such a right actually exists already.

According to the OPC, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) gives individuals legal power to make search engines like Google de-list search results about them, and to make individual websites take down information.

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Last year’s Supreme Court of Canada Google v. Equustek case , which upheld a B.C. court’s global takedown order, continues to play out in the courts.

The Supreme Court decision noted that it was open to Google to raise potential conflict of laws with the B.C. court in the hopes of varying the order: If Google has evidence that complying with such an injunction would require it to violate the laws of another jurisdiction, including interfering with freedom of expression, it is always free to apply to the British Columbia courts to vary the interlocutory order accordingly.

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Sidewalk Labs, the unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. selected to help transform a parcel of land known as Quayside, at the foot of Parliament Street, listed off a dizzying array of technologies it could develop in Canada’s largest city, then sell elsewhere: cameras and sensors that detect pedestrians at traffic lights or alert cleanup crews when garbage bins overflow; robotic vehicles that whisk away garbage in underground tunnels; heated bike lanes to melt snow; even a new street layout to accommodate a fleet of self-driving cars.

Many are concerned about the data Sidewalk could collect. Some say the deal has been shrouded in secrecy. Others fear the company’s vague but sweeping plans could threaten the city’s authority over a massive swath of waterfront or even its public transit system and other key services.

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Businesses could do a better job at responding to Canadians’ requests to look at the personal data they hold, according a new study from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

“Given that companies collect, process, and disclose huge amounts of personal information pertaining to their users and subscribers, it is imperative that these same companies improve their existing privacy, transparency, and accountability processes,” it says.

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The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics is ready to table its report following its months long review of Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. The Committee adopted its report , entitled “Towards Privacy by Design: A Review of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)” Feb. 13 and ordered that the Chair of the Committee table the report to the House of Commons.

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On July 26, 2017, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued Opinion 1/15 (the Opinion of the Advocate General on this case had been discussed previously in this blog, part I and part II) pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU on the draft agreement between Canada and the European Union (EU) dealing with the Transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data from the EU to Canada.